Unrestrained vandalism of churches continues in the state of Karnataka. On Tuesday, Nov. 17, unidentified miscreants attacked a church in Humnabad taluk in Bidar district.

The miscreants entered into the church by breaking the main door and damaged window panes and furniture, police said.

“It looks like a deliberate act of desecration as nothing has been stolen,” Vasanthkumar, the pastor of the church, told media.

He said the miscreants had damaged the statue of Jesus Christ and the cross atop the church.

Police on Wednesday visited the spot and have registered a complaint. The superintendent of police assured Christians that they would arrest the culprits without delay.

The newly built church, according to a source, is still to be inaugurated.

The incident comes a month after St Anthony's Church at Kavailbyrasandra in Bangalore was attacked. Prior to this, on Sept. 8, miscreants broke open into St. Francis De Sales Church near Hebbagodi and damaged the windows and statues.

In a related incident, anti-social elements on Nov. 6 disrupted a house church service in Shimoga, accusing a physically challenged Pastor Kannan Ramesh of forcible conversion.

According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India, Hindutva hardliners barged into the Faith Christ house church where three families gathered for their weekly service and verbally abused the pastor on alleged conversion.

The extremists dragged Pastor Ramesh and two church members identified only as Kumar and Thrimurthi to Old Town police station and warned them against using the house as a church.

The Global Council of Indian Christians has recorded 56 cases of violence against Christians in Karnataka in 2009.

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